Bad Movie Trailers!
Greetings my Movie Geeks!
Trailers are great, they show you snippets of upcoming movies. They are there to entice the audience, to reel in paying viewers in to see the latest movie on the big screen. But, some trailers are a little different. Some studios seem to enjoy showing absolutely everything that the movie has to offer. So here are a few of the best examples of Bad Movie Trailers!
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Spoilers for all Movies Mentioned
I am making this video based on the Godzilla vs Kong final trailer. Firstly, I am not completely invested in this series, despite liking every movie from Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I will also hopefully be watching this at some point in the future.
But that final trailer did the thing that trailers shouldn’t do. It gave us that extra piece of information, that we the audience should only see when we’ve paid for our tickets and have stuffed ourselves on fizzy drinks and popcorn. Sometimes cheesy nachos, but they are a special occasion.
Godzilla vs Kong
But the final movie trailer, and spoilers if, like me, you haven’t seen the final product or trailer, but a massive fan favourite character that was heavily speculated to appear actually does appear in the film. Again Spoilers for those who haven’t seen it but MechaGodzilla was revealed in the final trailer, in what I believe is a massive spoiler for the film. Why do studios want to spoil their movies with trailers that reveal everything? I don’t know but it’s not always the studio who produce the trailer, although they will have to sign off the final product.
It’s good to speculate, and it’s human nature to want something or someone to appear in a film, even if there’s only a small bit of evidence to prove it. But why purposefully add a shot in a trailer that shows who’s going to appear. Godzilla v Kong is a Legendary Pictures production that is distributed by Warner Bros. Sadly, this isn’t the first film to be distributed by Warner Bros. to have a massive spoiler in the trailer.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Batman v Superman had so many trailers that all showed a varying degree of movie information. From Batman’s ‘Knightmare’ future to almost the entirety of the Warehouse fight scene. But the second trailer of that film gave us the appearance of a secret character, that was speculated. Doomsday was to appear in the final act of the film.
The trailer showed this, and that took the surprise away for the fans. But not only the addition of the character, but what that character brings to the story. Doomsday was added to kill Superman in the comics. The fact that he appears in the trailer completely reveals the outcome of the film. I am not sure if it’s Warner Bros. or a separate company that produced the trailer, but they revealed everything.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Warner Bros. aren’t the only studio to make bad movie trailers that reveal the whole plot. 20th Century Fox also did this. Kingsman: The Golden Circle had a massive spoiler that was revealed through the trailers and poster! That spoiler being the fact Colin Firth’s character Harry Hart had been resurrected after being shot in the eye back in the first movie.
Terminator: Most Terminator Movies
A recent In Defence I did was about Terminator Salvation. You can watch here! where I discussed how the trailer for that and most of the Terminator movies spoiled the twist. Here it was shown in the trailer that Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington was a Terminator/human hybrid. If this was left in the movie for the audience to discover it in the theatre, it would have been so much better. But no, they had to show it in the trailer. See Terminator: Genisys for the exact same thing!
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Back in the world of comic book movie adaptations, with Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man series. The sequel to be precise. Gwen Stacey played by Emma Stone is seen falling in the trailer after Spidey’s web breaks. It doesn’t show the death, but as Gwen Stacey’s death in the comics is iconic, it’s pretty obvious what was going to happen in the movie. It also showed the final shot of the film in the trailer. What were they thinking?
Cast Away
Cast Away also had a Bad Movie Trailer that showed every beat of the movie and portrayed it as a movie that focussed on Tom Hanks getting past being marooned on the island. But not just that, it showed every moment in the same order as they appeared in the film. It’s a great film, but it isn’t what the trailer portrays it as.
The Avengers
Marvel have been fairly good at covering trailers with misdirects and in some trailers, adding or removing characters and even eyes! But back when they were bringing the Avengers together the trailer for the titular team up had a spoiler front and centre, that when watching the film, meant the emotional punch that precedes the scene is ruined. The scene in question is when Tony Stark is making his sacrifice play, and yet when he falls, he is saved by Hulk. It doesn’t ruin the movie, but it does cut short the sense that Iron Man may die to save the day.
Goldeneye
Bond, James Bond also ruined the surprise villain in the 1995 movie Goldeneye. The movie sets up the new 007 and introduces us to 006 Alec Trevelyan played by Sean Bean. The trailer shows us the girls, the gadgets and the explosions. But it also shows us that 006 is the main baddie! After the film opens with 007 and 006 doing their spy thing, we see 006 get shot. That’s not all, the whole facility is then blown up. Yes, he’s not seen for the majority of the film, but he is the big bad guy and it’s spoiled in the trailer.
Also, it’s Sean Bean, so you know he’s gonna die, and in this movie, he only dies twice… Gettit?
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Lord of the Rings the Two Towers trailer appeared to be made for those who have read the books. The Fellowship of the Ring saw Gandalf the Grey fall at the Bridge of Khazad Dum, telling the rest to Fly. He was dead, or at least that’s what non-book readers thought, until the Two Tower Trailer. Where Gandalf was featured throughout, ruining a twist that could have been really exciting. But, those films are still perfect, 20 years on. My God, I’m old!
Bad Movie Trailers!
For Bad Movie Trailers, it’s annoying that whoever cuts them together makes sure they show everything to spoil the film. If I made movies, I would make sure they either do what Marvel do and remove, add or make sure try to hoodwink the audience so that they are surprised in the cinema. Or even do what Hitchcock did for Psycho and film a specific trailer that gives you the gist of what the movie is about all narrated by the director himself. Terminator 2 also had a specially made trailer that was quite spoilery as it showed Arnold’s T-800 rolling off the production line.
Studios, Filmmakers, please if not for me, but for the craft of making movies, stop making Bad Movie trailers!
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